Behold, thus shall the man be blessed That feareth Jehovah. Jehovah bless thee out of Zion: And see thou the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy Yea, see thou thy children's children. Peace be upon Israel.-Psalm 128. This ancient picture of the old-fashioned family is as fresh as on the day it was written. It was not drawn from a land of one and two-child families. See the boys and girls sitting there "like olive plants round about thy table!" How would the picture fit into our modern apartments and tenements? One of the deepest joys of life comes with one's own children, blood of our blood and flesh of our flesh. This is not a selfish joy. The community depends upon it-lives by it. Is it not then an unpardonable community sin that any group of people should be deprived of the possibility of children? Is it not a deeper sin that some should deprive themselves of this priceless privilege? Do we look forward to the joy of having our own children with reverent anticipation? Are we fit for it? Has the community not a right to ask us this question? To what extent is the adoption of children by childless couples to be urged as a social obligation? SECOND DAY: The Child Is in the Midst Lo, children are a heritage of Jehovah; Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. And he called to him a little child, and set him in Study Jesus' attitude to little children.-Matt. 18: 1-6. In youth life is likely to be self-centered, but with parenthood great changes come and gradually the child occupies the very center of experience. The whole family centers itself around the needs of the developing children. The missionary everywhere has given large attention to the training of children. The marked contrast between the children on the street and those in the mission school, the place the graduates of these schools take in the new life of these nations, is evidence of the transformations possible through such effort. As Christianity all over the world develops the community into a larger family, great movements for child welfare grow up. Here is the point of power. If our city councils and legislative bodies would focus their attention upon the child, what effect would it have upon the development of the city and the nation? THIRD DAY: The Child Gentles all Community Life And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.-Isa. 11: 6-9. A group of college men were going one night through Chinatown in New York City. Secret passages were being pointed out which entered into gambling dens and opium joints. A bullet hole marked the wall in a dark arcade where a Tong battle had been fought. Suddenly, as the group emerged on the street, two small Chinese children in native dress were found, playing on the sidewalk, while their father placidly smoked his pipe in the warm air of the summer evening. Every man in the group was caught and held by the contrast. The child gentles even the roughest life. Mrs. Browning makes one of her hardest characters say: "Go it, Jim, "I'm a tender soul; I never banged a child at two years old And drew blood from him, but I sobbed for it That's killed, mayhap.” -E. B. Browning, "Aurora Leigh.” How many evil things even the worst men would not do before a child. In the childless camps of the miners, the lumberjacks, the construction workers, life often sinks to its lowest level, but instantly when a child comes it rises. Bret Harte achieved sudden fame by writing this truth into "The Luck of Roaring Camp." The power of the child to refine the life of grown-ups reaches far into government and industry. Some of our most effective social movements today-the attack on infant mortality, the crusade against child labor, the recreation movement are undertaken for the sake of the children. They all show the hand of the child reaching out from the family group to bless the whole community, to humanize our common life. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou Because of thine adversaries, That thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. FOURTH DAY: The Protection of Children the Primary Duty Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the Wise-men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the male children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had exactly learned of the Wise-men.-Matt. 2: 16. But whoso shall cause one of these little ones that believe on me to stumble, it is profitable for him that a great millstone should be hanged about his neck, A recent cartoon shows a small girl coming out of a city alley. About the entrance lurks a throng of evil creatures— vice, disease, imbecility, tuberculosis, drink, poverty, cruelty, dissipation. The inscription reads "Give the Child a Chance.”. If this is a true picture, what is the social effectiveness of religion in that community? Is there no modern slaughter of the innocents to compare with that of Herod? Animals will fight to the death for their young, and the higher groups protect their young in organized fashion. Do we know any community which is protecting its youth against the powers that prey upon them, as effectively as a herd of bison formed in a circle will protect its calves against a pack of wolves? How does Jesus' condemnation apply to those who make profit off the weak lives of youth in the underpaid industries, to those who make income out of houses where children rot away to death? How about those who make high profit off the food supply, which means poor living for the common people? FIFTH DAY: Guided Play Is Childhood's Great Vocation They are like unto children that sit in the marketplace, and call one to another; who say, We piped unto you, and ye did not dance; we wailed, and ye did not weep.-Luke 7: 32. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.-Zech. 8: 5. Zechariah knew too well the desolation of a childless city. Pestilence and famine had stalked through the streets of Jerusalem, taking their toll of little ones. The prophet looks forward to the city that some day shall be, and sees at the center of it the joy and laughter of playing children. "What is it about these children that bothers me so? There is something gone out of their faces," said a college man spending his first summer among the poor children on the East Side of New York City. Was it that age had come to them before their time, because they had lost the normal opportunity for play-life? When country people move to the city the first thing they are forced to give up is room outdoors for their children to play. There can be no city of righteousness that does not provide play for its children. Ten thousand cases in the juvenile court of one great city showed that by far the larger number came from neighborhoods where there was no organized recreation,-the homes too weak and the church too poor to provide it. The city was allowing the instinct for play—the great constructive force of childhood— to be turned aside to its destruction in commercial amusement and in perverted forms of pleasure. Here is a challenge to the Christian forces of the community. SIXTH DAY: Growth Results The earth beareth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.-Mark 4: 28. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.-Luke 2: 52. One of the tragedies of modern life is the arrested development of youth. Is it confined to the cities alone? In the countryside, do the children of the farmers struggling with poor land, or those of hired hands, achieve the possibilities of normal childhood? The industrial city likewise lays a repressive hand upon the growth of children. In its worst sections children have a dwarfed and stunted life. Investigation shows that at the age of thirteen the children of the wellpaid workers in one industry weigh eleven pounds more, and average three inches taller, than the children of the unskilled, low-grade workers in the same trade. Labor will not long consent to endure these handicaps. The iron is entering its soul; its mind is awakening. Said an old cotton mill worker |